Talkative Quill: Interactive Device for Enhancing Active Recollection of Kanji Character Forms by Voice Assistance

Abstract

We propose an interactive handwriting assistance device, “Talkative Quill,” which provides verbal hints on the composition of Kanji characters. The pen-shaped device allows users to receive speech instructions while writing. We evaluate two factors inherent in the proposed concept: information presentation by speech and interaction with users from the writing tool itself. In our experiment, we consider the comparison conditions about the presentation method (speech, visual, or combined) and the device providing the information (pen or smart speaker). The result shows that users’active effort to recall the character forms is increased when guided by speech only, compared to when the correct character form is presented visually. However, no difference in user performance or perception was observed between the pen-assisted and smart-speaker-assisted situations. In this study, we discuss the value of tools having the ability to interact with users and provide insights for the design of tool-based conversational agents.